


A golden day

by tveckling



Category: Romeo And Juliet - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, First Date, Juliet is Julia in this, Modern AU, Night-time writing, Romeo is so so in love, Trying to do humor, and the ages have been altered: Julia is about 18 and the others are 20-21
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-30 14:05:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3939622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tveckling/pseuds/tveckling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Romeo and Juliet has finally gotten permission by their parents to have a relationship and now it is time for their first real date. The day is starting so well, but will it last?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A golden day

**Author's Note:**

> Well, well, well. Here is my first fanction in several years and it's for a fandom I've never written before. Also, please have in consideration that at least half of this was written after midnight and that this isn't beta'd. Any and all mistakes are mine.

When he’d started planning for his and Julia’s date Romeo had worked himself into panicking as he realized what was actually the first real date they'd go on, now that they had won their families' acceptance. He kept asking Benvolio and Mercutio for advice only to immediately turn everything down and almost managed to drive even poor Benvolio to murder several times. Romeo had been on many dates before and had never had any issues with picking the right activity and spot, but this was _Julia_ ; what if she didn’t like the restaurant he chose, or thought ferris wheels were boring? He wouldn’t allow it to be less than perfect for his beloved, especially after all the trouble they’d been through to get their families to permission to date. Tybalt was still giving Romeo the evil eye whenever he touched Julia though, but Romeo was hopeful that would disappear with time.

The night before the big day -five days after they had picked the date- Romeo was still fretting about his choices and his friends were forced to call him a lost cause. Benvolio checked what operas were playing at the Arena and bought tickets to Aida, and Mercutio picked up his phone and left the room, which panicked Romeo didn't even notice. When he came back Mercutio simply said that the restaurant’s best table had been promised to be free the whole day, in case the couple changed their plans, and Romeo, in his relief, hugged his friends and sang their praises, although that soon turned into praise for Julia. Benvolio was the only one who recognized the curve of Mercutio's smile and knew that his friend was up to no good.

\---

The day started as good as Romeo could’ve hoped; his hair was behaving and was styled in record time, he hadn’t grown any pimples during the night, and his outfit looked just as good as it had done when he first picked it out days earlier. The weather had been mild all morning and by the time it was nearing ten the sun was fully out without any signs of clouds. The weatherman had promised a sunny day with 25 to 27 degrees and it seemed like he was telling the truth, Romeo thought as he walked to Julia’s house. He and Julia were going to take a romantic walk through the Giusti garden, have lunch at one of the more cosy restaurants along the Piazza dele Erbe, and then see Aida at the Arena. After that they were going to finish the day off with dinner, which Mercutio had said was paid for, and then Romeo would escort Julia home again. And maybe, if the day went well enough, maybe he could get a kiss.

The thought brought a wide smile to his face and he didn’t even notice how his feet gained speed. Julia’s face appeared in his mind and he got lost in imagining how wonderful the day was going to be and how happy she was going be. Soon enough he was standing at the big door of the Capulet estate and he took a deep breath. Barely had he finished knocking before the door was torn open, revealing the glaring face of Tybalt.

“Well met, cousin,” Romeo said with a friendly smile. Not even the way Tybalt’s face took a disgusted grimace at the last word dimmed his happiness. He knew that one day he’d marry Julia, and then the two of them truly would be cousins, so why not getting used to the word? “I have come for Julia. Is she ready?”

Tybalt opened his mouth to say something, probably something insulting, but a smaller frame pushed him aside and threw herself in Romeo’s arms. He shouted her name and the two lovers spun around in each other’s arms before Romeo put her down and took a step back. He and Juliet had matching grins and couldn’t quite stop touching each other even with having made distance, as Julia sneaked her hand into his as soon as he'd stopped moving. Behind Julia Tybalt was gripping the door so hard the wood creaked but despite his dark face he was silent and didn’t move to separate the two.

Julia turned around and pressed a quick kiss to her cousin’s cheek. “I’m going now, cousin. Have a great day, I’ll see you later.” She and Romeo then walked away, hand in hand and shoulders brushing every now and then. Tybalt stayed in the doorway staring after them.

\---

The day had been great, like Romeo had hoped. They had taken picture after picture in the garden, and even a selfie where Julia kissed his cheek that he was going to treasure forever; they had chased each other through the mazes until they both collapsed, laughing and out of breath; and after finding a small café that served delicious pretzels they had gone on to the Arena. It had been hopeless for Romeo to even try to concentrate on the opera, what with Julia beside him, but he had to admit the lovers’ story was as beautiful as it was tragic. During the finale he surprised himself when he dared to wipe Julia’s tears as she leaned into him, but the only reaction was a small smile the made him dizzy with its brilliance.

Their love was as strong as Aida and Radames’, just without the tragic end, he said to Julia as they walked out. She stroked the back of his hand and agreed with yet another smile that almost blinded him. The walk to the restaurant was spent talking about their relief over their parents’ acceptance and coming up with comparisons between their relationship and the opera’s pair. It wasn’t until they entered the restaurant that their chatter paused.

“Good evening,” Romeo greeted the waitress. “I have a reservation for Montague.”

“Of course. Your table is ready for you, please follow me,” the woman said and led Romeo and Julia to a corner table a little bit to the side, giving them a view over the rest of the restaurant as well as out through a window. Despite being able to watch everything around them the table’s position was in such a way that they had more privacy than any other table. Romeo smiled at Julia as he pulled out her chair for her to sit in.

The waitress waited a couple of steps away until both Romeo and Julia had been seated, then handed out the menus she’d picked up on the way. Julia opened the menu but paused after skimming the first page to look up at the waitress. “You know what. I'm feeling like something new tonight. Is there any dish you recommend?”

The waitress smiled and nodded. “There is the braised beef cheek with foie gras, mashed potatoes, and fried leek. It’s very good and comes highly recommended. If you’re not interested in meat we have bass fillet with mashed fennel and anise broth.”

Julia looked over at Romeo. “I think the beef sounded good. What do you think?”

He smiled back at her. “I agree. I’ll take your recommendation and have the braised beef, thank you,” he said to the waitress who nodded and wrote down his order.

“I’ll have it as well,” Julia said.

The waitress looked up after she’d finished writing. “And what would you like to drink?”

Romeo pursed his lips and glanced at Julia, then back at the waitress. “Could we see the wine list?”

The waitress smiled and nodded. “Of course. Please just wait a moment, I’ll fetch the sommelier for you.” She then turned around and walked with quick but calm strides into the kitchen.

Romeo looked after the waitress for a second before his attention turned to Julia. When their eyes met she reached out her hand across the table. The movement of his own didn’t register until he felt the warmth of hers and his smile widened. He hadn’t stopped smiling for hours; the next day his face muscles would surely hurt, but in that moment nothing else mattered but sitting and smiling with the woman he loved.

True to what the waitress had said it took less than a minute before a man walked up to the table and nodded both to Romeo and to Julia. “Good evening to you both, master Montague and miss Capulet. My name is Antonio and I will help you with choosing your wine tonight.” He held out a list that Romeo accepted, reluctantly releasing Julia’s hand.

Skimming the list Romeo felt uncertain. He hadn’t thought about ordering wine before that evening, and besides, both Benvolio and Mercutio knew wines much better than he did. This was the first time Romeo had taken a girl to a fine restaurant and so he had never felt he needed a high end drink. Now he was with Julia, however, and she deserved nothing but the best. Besides, Mercutio had told him the payment was taken care of.

Romeo pointed to the highest costing red wine and showed it to the sommelier. “We’ll take this one.”

“Ah, Barbaresco, a fine choice and a good year too. I’ll be back with it shortly,” he said and accepted the offered list before turning around and disappearing through the kitchen doors.

Romeo blinked when he saw the mischievous smile on Julia’s face. “What?”

“You can tell me, dearest Romeo. You just chose the most expensive wine on the list, didn’t you?” she asked with a tone that clearly said she knew the answer. Romeo could feel the top of his ears turn red, but he hoped his face stayed calm and unaffected.

“I don’t understand what you mean. It might have been a pricey wine, yes, but that’s because it’s a good one.”

Julia laughed, covering her mouth and looking so adorable Romeo ached with need to touch her, so he reached out his hand again. Julia took a hold of it with her own and shook her head. “You decided too quickly, and didn’t ask any questions, just pointed to one wine. You didn’t even ask for the special list.”

“There’s another list?” Romeo gasped with horror written on his face. Julia laughed again and nodded. Romeo shook his head and grinned sheepishly. “Well, at least he said that it’s a good wine.”

“This is Il Desco, I don’t think they serve ’bad’ wines here,” Julia said but she stroked his hand and changed the subject instead to asking what he was planning for his mother’s birthday in a few weeks. They were so absorbed by each other that they didn’t notice the time go by without the sommelier returning. It had been almost fifteen minutes when another person walked up to the table, startling both Romeo and Julia. When they saw who it was Julia blinked in confusion and Romeo groaned, feeling the dread of a ruined night coming upon him.

Mercutio grinned down on both of them. He was holding a plate of chicken in one hand and a plate with three wine glasses in the other. “Good evening, love birds. I trust you have had a magical day.”

“Good evening, Mercutio,” Romeo answered suspiciously. “What are you doing here?”

“Why, I am delivering sustenance to you both.” He put down the chicken on the middle of the table with a flourish, then put down each of the filled glasses in front of the seated couple. The third glass was put down as well and Romeo was about to open his mouth and ask about it when Mercutio grabbed an unused chair from the nearest table and placed it at the end of the their table. Romeo had already begun shaking his head when Mercutio sat down.

“No. No, Mercutio. I love you, but you can not have dinner with us. This is mine and Julia’s day and we were supposed to be alone.”

Mercutio took a sip from his glass, ignoring Romeo. Julia was looking between the two of them, uncertain whether to be amused or concerned. Mercutio smiled and nodded to himself. “Yes, this is good. Very good. I should ask them for a bottle later.” He looked over at Julia and winked. “I must say you are looking very fetching today, my lovely Julia. Would you not dismiss this boorish peacock and dine with me instead? No? Ah, very well, but when you find all your beauty products used and emptied, remember that I offered and that Romeo will always forget to buy new bottles. And, yes, Romeo,” he said and turned to his friend, cutting off the protest that had been about to come, “I know about your daily routine. I can’t believe you thought you’d hidden it from me,” he said and sighed deeply, laying his hand over his chest as though he was pained. He took another sip from his glass while Romeo tried to decide what to say and Julia decided to be amused.

“And before you can attack me with further questions, yes, I remember fully well that you wanted to be alone today -let go of the knife, Romeo, it's bad manners- but I feel you should know that a little kitten has been stalking at your feet all day,” Mercutio said and pointed behind him with his thumb. Both Romeo and Juliet turned to see what, or who, he was talking about and saw Tybalt dive behind a menu that didn’t completely manage to conceal him. “And Benvolio’s hiding in the kitchen. He said he wanted nothing to do with this, which clearly contradicts him coming with me, but you know how our dear Benvolio is. Won’t you try the chicken? I’ve had them make it before; it’s delicious.” He leaned forward and broke off a wing which he then started chewing on.

Romeo looked between Tybalt and Mercutio, the distress on his face growing. Tybalt peaked out from behind the menu but bent down again when he saw that they were still looking at him. Mercutio didn’t help, happily munching on his chicken as he was, and despite Romeo's prayers Benvolio didn't appear to drag them away.

Eventually it was Julia who reacted and chuckled as she shook her head. “So that’s why I thought I kept seeing things in the corner of my eyes.”

Mercutio shrugged. “We had to calm down our lord Tybalt quite a few times. That cheek kiss in the garden? That was dangerous,” he said and waggled his finger at her, mock seriousness on his face. “Poor, brave Benvolio was almost brained by a statue. Do you have any idea how much of a mess that would have made?”

“In that case we must ask him to join us, to reward him for his bravery,” Julia said with a smile. Catching Romeo’s look she shrugged and patted his hand before moving to rip off a part of the chicken. “They are all here and we are aware of it now. Why not have a nice dinner together, all of us? Call over my cousin as well, please, Mercutio.”

At that Mercutio’s smile was exchanged by a pained grimace, but he stood and bowed to her with a flourish. “As my lady commands.” Before he left he took her hand, kissed it loudly, and plucked the piece of chicken from her fingers. There was a ripping sound and Romeo turned to see Tybalt clenching the remains of the menu while he glared daggers at Mercutio, who grinned back at him while slowly licking his fingers.

Romeo sighed. The day had been so good.

**Author's Note:**

> \- As fahrenheit is pretty much only used in the US, be aware that when I'm talking degrees I'm talking celsius.  
> \- In reality Aida is played late in the evening (at least this year) but just ignore that.  
> \- I have never been to a very fancy restaurant nor have I perused a wine list provided by a sommelier, so I just did some quick research into wines and sommerliers and wine lists.
> 
> I have also discovered that despite him being my favorite, I really don't know how to write Mercutio talking. Damn it.


End file.
